


Something Worth Fighting For

by nugatory



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 18:57:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19978918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nugatory/pseuds/nugatory
Summary: Aaron and Eric find themselves at an impasse when it comes to the oncoming war with the Saviors.  As tensions between the two mount, they both realize what is at stake, and what they're willing to compromise on.





	Something Worth Fighting For

The house was quieter than normal, a brittle tension in the air as Aaron iced the newest bruise on his face and Eric stared moodily into the fireplace. Going after Gabriel against Eric's wishes had been, Aaron quietly conceded, a bad idea even if it was the right thing to do. Bad because Eric had pleaded with him not to go, to sit this one out, and Aaron hadn’t listened. Bad because—once again—Aaron had come crawling home, injured. He’d worried the entire way home what Eric would say when he saw him, trying to think of something clever to say that would lighten the mood, but the words had failed him the moment he saw the disappointment on Eric’s face. 

“I’m sor—“

Eric held up his hands to stop the apology, not wanting to hear it. He’d simply led Aaron upstairs to the bathroom to clean and bandage him up, yet again.   
The disappointment had been punishment enough, but now—even after a couple of hours had passed—Eric hadn’t spoken a word to him. Aaron wanted to explain what happened, wanted to tell him about the junkyard people and the new deal Rick had made, but more importantly, he just wanted Eric to forgive him and not be angry anymore. 

Laying against one end of the couch and looking at the ginger-haired man, Aaron couldn't take the silence anymore. Sneaking his foot across the small distance between them, he nudged Eric's thigh with his toe. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Eric replied automatically. “But I’m still angry with you.”

“Why?” Aaron asked, playing stupid just to get the other man talking.

It worked. Eric looked at him with a dumbfounded expression. “Why? Really, Aaron? Why!?”

“I didn’t go out there hoping to get beat up again.”

Eric growled in frustration and pressed his palms against his eyes. “You don’t get it, babe!”

“Tell me…” Aaron implored calmly, sitting up and setting the ice pack aside. “Talk to me. Please. This silent treatment is killing me.”

“I said everything I needed to say earlier. You went out there anyway.”

“Eric—“

“This is tearing us apart,” Eric interrupted, his voice shaking on the verge of tears. “We used to agree on everything. We used to always be on the same page, but ever since the Wolves attacked us, I feel like I’m losing you and I don’t understand why.”

“Babe…” Aaron moved closer to Eric and put his arm around his shoulder. Before he could say more, Eric pressed on.

“I know you feel responsible for what happened because they found your pack, but you’re not. It wasn’t your fault, but it’s like you’ve been trying to make up for it regardless by putting your own life on the line.”

“We owe these people our lives, Eric. Rick, Maggie…all of them. You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them. That’s a debt I can never repay.”

Eric reeled back, a horrified expression on his face. “You’re doing all of this because of _me_?” 

“I’m doing this for _us_. For all of us. You really want to live like this? Foraging shit for the Saviors? Having our house ransacked because we have stuff they want, and just letting them take it?”

“I told you what I want; _all_ I want. Us alive. You and me. I’m not saying the others should die so that we can live, I’m just asking you to stop going out there when you don’t have to.”

Aaron shook his head sadly. “I can’t do that, Eric. I need to be out there, helping them. That’s how I make sure that we survive this. If you can’t understand that…”

A tear streaked down Eric’s cheek as the two looked at one another, an invisible line drawn between them. “We’re never going to agree on this, are we?”

“No.” Aaron answered softly, voice trembling with emotion. 

Eric swallowed hard, nodding as more tears rolled down his cheeks. “I…I need to be alone for a little while.”

Aaron closed his eyes as Eric rose to his feet, moving towards the stairs. He spoke before Eric could get too far away. “Rick made a deal today.” He heard Eric stop to listen. “The people we found have guns. They’re going to help us make a stand against the Saviors. We’re going to need everyone who’s capable of fighting to fight.”

Eric knew Aaron wasn’t asking him to fight so much as telling him they would be doing this with or without him…but preferably with. He laughed humorlessly, covering his face with his hands and taking a deep breath. “When?”

Aaron turned on the couch so that he could see Eric, staring at the other man’s back. “Soon. A few days maybe. Rick’s going back to the Hilltop and Kingdom tomorrow to recruit them again.”

Eric stood rooted to the spot for a moment, processing the words, then continued upstairs without comment. He closed the bedroom door and laid down on the pallet of blankets on the floor, where he finally gave in to his tears. Curling up into a ball on his side, Eric sobbed in frustration and anger and worry and regret. He felt like they were all on a train that was barreling full-speed down the tracks towards another oncoming train. The collision wasn’t going to be pretty. He could feel in his gut that this wasn’t going to turn out the way Rick and Aaron and all the others expected it would. He hoped it would, but deep down he knew what this was going to cost them. 

The room had grown dark around Eric as he laid there, finally cried out, considering every option available to him. He knew his priority was Aaron, and Aaron’s priority was him. It was just their methods that had driven a wedge between them. One of them was going to have to bend a little if both of them were going to survive this together, and Eric knew it had to be him. He was going to have to step up and fight beside Aaron, come what may, or he would lose him… And that simply wasn’t an option.

The bedroom door creaked open and Eric looked back over his shoulder to see Aaron poking his head in. He reached his hand out to his lover, who came into the room and sank down on the blankets next to Eric, laying on his side and spooning behind him. Eric’s arms wrapped across Aaron’s as the other man held him tightly from behind. 

“I’m sorry,” Aaron murmured, nuzzling the ginger’s pale neck.

“Me too.”

“I know you think I’m blindly running out there, but I promise I’m not—“

“I know…” Eric interrupted softly. He turned in Aaron’s arms to face him, tangling his legs with his lover’s and peering at him in the darkness. “I know this is who you are. I get it, I do. I don’t like it, but I understand. I’m just terrified that I’m going to lose you in some stupid, meaningless way.”

Aaron placed his hand on the back of Eric’s neck and drew their heads together until their foreheads touched. “The only way you’re going to lose me in a stupid, meaningless way is if I accidentally fall off a cliff, or shoot myself in the face…and, let’s face it, babe...between the two of us, you’re more likely to be the klutz.”

Eric laughed softly. “Thanks, babe.”

Aaron couldn’t help but smile softly at the sound of Eric’s laugh, brushing his nose against the other man’s. “This isn’t meaningless to me. This is about fighting for our right to live.”

“I know,” Eric sighed. “And whether I want to be a part of it or not…I am. I’m not going to let you risk your life out there for me.”

“Eric—“

Eric pressed his fingertips to Aaron’s lips, stopping his protest. “We’re going to be out there, risking our lives together.”

Recognition dawned on Aaron and he waited for Eric to move his fingers away before he spoke. “You don’t have to—“

“I do,” Eric cut him off again, gripping the back of Aaron’s neck. “I do because protecting you is my priority and if this is the way to do that…then, count me in.”

Aaron pulled Eric into a heated kiss, eliciting a soft moan from the other man as they both melted into the embrace. When Eric captured Aaron’s lower lip between his teeth, Aaron growled playfully and rolled Eric onto his back. Eric started to unbutton Aaron’s shirt, but Aaron gently grabbed Eric’s hands and pushed them back down to the blanket. “Uh uh…this is about you right now.”

He moved between Eric’s legs, unbuckling his belt and working open the button and zip of his pants. With a grin, Aaron gripped the waistband of Eric’s trousers and underwear, and tugged both down his legs and off his feet, leaving him in his green sweater and socks. Eric laughed softly at the triumphant expression on Aaron’s face, moaning pleasantly when Aaron stooped to kiss him.

“This doesn’t have to be just about me,” Eric cajoled, his fingers once again reaching for the buttons on Aaron’s shirt. 

Aaron smiled against Eric’s lips, pushing the sweater up his chest. “But it is,” he answered, leaning down to nip playfully at Eric’s chest, tongue flicking across the peak of his nipple. Eric gasped softly, his hands now working themselves through Aaron’s mop of wavy curls, fingertips massaging his scalp. Aaron scooped his arms under Eric’s legs, kissing his way down the lean torso and dipping his tongue into Eric’s navel just to make him squirm. 

Eric closed his eyes, concentrating on the feel of Aaron’s lips, teeth, and tongue as his lover made a beeline down his body. He sighed softly when Aaron pressed a tender kiss to the inside of his thigh, then shuddered with pleasure when the other man’s tongue traced the head of his cock. “Aaron…” he exhaled the name as if it were the answer to all his prayers, and Aaron responded by flicking his tongue over the slit at the head of his cock.

Taking Eric’s member into his mouth slowly, Aaron worked his way to the base, nuzzling the patch of soft ginger hair with his nose and breathing in Eric’s scent. He groaned softly, making Eric gasp in response to the vibration, then slowly worked back to the tip. He felt Eric struggle out of the sweater before his lover’s hands returned to his hair, roaming restlessly as he tried to urge Aaron for more. 

Hollowing his cheeks further, he settled into an easy rhythm as his mouth worked up and down Eric’s shaft. Aaron didn’t consider himself near as good at this as Eric was, but the sighs and moans and mewls of pleasure coming from his lover told him he wasn’t half-bad, either. He could tell Eric liked the stubble lining his jaw, as every time it rubbed the other man’s leg or groin, Eric would growl softly and thrust up against Aaron’s mouth. A few times, he purposely teased Eric by pulling off his cock to rub his cheek against his thigh or the soft sac between his legs. 

He finally stopped teasing his lover when Eric whimpered and grabbed his head, holding him in place on his cock. Aaron chuckled around him, but gave Eric what he wanted, gripping the base of his cock as he sucked the other man with fervor. Eric panted, his hips bucking up against Aaron’s fist and mouth, fingers gripping his hair tightly. He’d been reduced to uttering monosyllabic swears of rapture as he grew closer and closer to reaching his peak, and Aaron knew he’d hit the threshold when Eric gripped the back of his neck.

“Babe…” he hissed tightly, warning Aaron that he was on the edge.

“Mhm.” Aaron answered around his cock, not stopping for even a second. 

Eric’s nails raked across Aaron’s upper back and shoulders, and Aaron could feel his legs shaking. Knowing Eric was about to be in the throes of passion, Aaron pressed his finger inside of his lover and pushed against his prostate. Eric cried out in response, his hands tugging on Aaron’s hair as his orgasm hit him full force. Aaron felt the ropes of cum coat his tongue, and moaned with delight at having brought his partner to orgasm. He milked Eric happily, holding the suction around him and swallowing Eric’s seed. When Eric began to tremble, he knew he was finished and he lapped the remnants of cum from his cock before kissing Eric’s thigh and gently lowering his legs back down on the blanket. He moved off to the side, pulling Eric against him and finding his lips with a soft, lazy kiss.  
Eric looked at him through hooded eyes, glazed with euphoric bliss. A sedate smile spread across his lips as his unsteady hand found its way to the back of Aaron’s neck, drawing their foreheads together again. “I already forgave you, y’know?”

Aaron chuckled, kissing Eric again tenderly. “Yeah, well…I was just making sure it stuck.”


End file.
